As a general principle, agricultural cultivation throughout history has been carried out on soil. In this regard, farmers generally preferred to select and/or transfer to plots of fertile land best suited for cultivation. However, even if starting on an agriculturally productive plot of farmland, prevailing weather condition and unpredictable environmental forces could cause crop production to decline or at least remain constant after consecutive years. In view of this, one of the many problems associated with conventional means of farming was that farmers had to frequently accommodate to a constantly changing natural environment.
Thus, the natural limitations of land fertility made it difficult to farm on the same plot for consecutive years. Farmers had to cultivate crops seasonally to accommodate prevailing soil and weather conditions. This staggered form of cultivation tended to destabilize and make uncertain the agricultural economy. These drawbacks, together with the ever increasing scarcity and continued depletion of arable land, has propelled searches for alternative, less resource exhaustive means of cultivation.
In light of the drawbacks of the conventional agricultural systems set forth above, the inventor, pulling from his vast experience gained through years of farming, observation and experiments, has sought feasible alternative means of cultivation. As a result, a synthetic cultivation medium--alternatively called "artificial soil"--has been developed. When this cultivation medium is used in conjunction with known hydroponic methods, the many disadvantages flowing from the traditional cultivation of plants on natural soil are substantially overcome.
The cultivation medium is comprised of chemically inert glomerates of intertwined fibers which are preferably manufactured from polyacrylonitrile fibers. Such fibers may be purchased commercially, but is more preferably recycled from scrap textiles or yarns. In this regard, the scrap textile is shredded, separated, refined, bleached with oxide, bleached for restoration, rinsed with water, dehydrated and dried. The processed fibers are then agitated to form small, relatively stable fiber glomerates Such a cultivation medium has many features and advantages: Resistance to decay, relative stability, tolerance to both acidity and alkalinity, insolubility in water, resistance to hardening, resistance to microbes, lightness, softness, puffiness and washability. The cultivation medium can be used for hydroponic plant cultivation by supplying suitable nutrients or may also be used to supplement and thus improve soil quality under traditional cultivation methods. In light of this, it is foreseen that this method and product will create new and tangible industries in the cultivation of plants.